Life with the Dead
by Hawx94
Summary: It's been so long since their lives changed forever. they can't remember what it was really like before. Life was rebuilt and they were prosperous. But, once again their lives are thrown into turmoil. Now they face a whole new enemy. (rated T for suggestive content for now. May change later)
1. ACT I

This idea has been sitting around in my head for some time now. With some time that I have, I've decided to act on it. This fic is based on the anime, and for the simple fact that it ended. I'm not saying that it was better than the manga, but i believe the manga will be finished one day.

I have this planned out from start to finish now, with many different paths possible. So please review and tell me your thoughts! I'll decide what happens from that!

*I do not own any characters or story from High school Of The Dead. Only my own story and characters.*

Without any more delay, Life with the Dead...

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**Act I**

5 years, that's how long it's been since the world breathed its last breath. But in those 5 years, we did not lose faith. We fought back and we have gained ground. We are no longer in the dark. No longer do we fear for our life within the walls. These streets are where it had almost ended all those years ago. There is a government once again. Power and water is once again available. Life is back to normal.

In most cases, but there is still the threat of Them. Though their numbers have been drastically reduced, they still drastically outnumber the living; 50 to one. We are doing the best that we can do with the resources that we have. Not everything is back online yet. Many of Japans' ammunition factories were destroyed in the Red Spring. That's where I come into this story.

My name is Takashi Komuro and I am a survivor. I fought tooth and nail to survive and keep my friends by my side. I've had to make some difficult choices as a teenager that many adults never dreamed of making before the end. But I did and we all made it through; Saeko Busujima, Rei Miyamoto, Saya Takagi, Kohta Hirano, Shizuka Marikawa and of course little Alice Maresato. You may wonder where I am going with all this but it's simple. When we joined the Gujo community, people took notice that I had led these people here. I didn't do it all alone, but they didn't realize it. When we came through many of the survivors were local people, so they didn't have much experience in the way of fighting Them. They asked me to lead "hunting" parties as more and more of Them were coming closer and closer to this town. That was two years ago. For two years I have had as normal of a life that I could have hoped for after the world ended. Everyone helped around the village the best that they could. Saya assisted in the local engineer in the design and overseeing of the wall that was built around Gujo. Shizuka did what she was best and helped in the hospital with Alice by her side. As for Kohta, Rei, Saeko and myself we worked rotating between the hunting parties and the construction crew.

Now twenty-two years old, I have a stable job within the reformed Japanese Self Defense Force on a local scale. You could say I'm the designated town Protector. I have my own house with some extra land. However I share this land with two other people; my soon to be wife Saeko, and Alice who we have taken in like a daughter. Ever since the night in the shrine, I have been attracted to Saeko, both her shining light and her dark secrets. She is what helped keep me sane while we always moving around. Rei says she's ok with it, but deep down, I know she's not. I see out of the corner of my eye the way she looks at me when I'm with Saeko and also when I'm not. She's seeing a local boy but I can tell it's not what she really wants. Both Kohta and Saya have moved away from the village. Not because of any personal reason however. Kohta was recruited into the Special Assault Team by Rika Minami and became her professional partner once everything settled down. Naturally, Saya went with him. We keep in regular contact with them as much as we can. Alice just finished her first year of Junior High. She has her sights set on bring a doctor just like her "Auntie" Shizuka. And as for Saeko, she looks more and more beautiful by the day, her grace, her elegance is a sight to behold. I am certainly not worthy of her, but yet here she stands by my side as her choice through everything that has happened.

Officially you are allowed to travel outside of the city walls. We are instructed to say that it isn't a good idea, we can't stop you. It's still dangerous out there. The days are easy enough to travel across the land; however, the nights are not only difficult to navigate, but dangerous. Dangers from not only Them but the living as well. Bandits were getting to be quite a problem before the SDF came back. Now there are not many threats from groups like that now, they still lurk out there in the shadows. As the head security official of Gujo, I've had to deal with them periodically. I hate myself for this, but the only way I can deal with them the without losing my mind, is to think of the ones that need to be dealt with as Them. It's worked so far but the veil is starting to lift and I'm seeing who they really are. Saeko served with me, but through the local detachment. I begged her to retire from the force when we started to fight more bandits than them. I'm not sure if I'd be able to calm her down anymore if her dark side took over again. I'm just thankful that the attacks on my village have ceased.

Since that day, Saeko has stayed home and taught the way of the sword to anyone who was interested in the dojo we built in the yard of our home, following in the footsteps her father, KatashiBusujima. Not only has it helped her keep herself busy, but it's helped to train more protectors for our village. I can tell that she wants to be out there with me, but she knows that this is best. That way she can be there for Alice whenever she is needed.

It was a warm April morning when I woke up in my master bedroom. I lazily rolled to my side and the clock said 5:22. I still had an hour until I had to report into the station for my shift. It was my first day on this rotation. 3 days on Hunting/Outer Patrol, and then 3 nights of Wall posts. Then I receive 6 days not on official duty. But as I laid in bed, all I could think about was how far away that sounded. Guessing that I should get up and wake myself up, I get up to go to the shower. But before that, I roll over and look at my still sleeping fiancé. She looks as beautiful as she did the day before everything went down the drain, but more mature someway. I'm not sure how to properly describe it. Having looked at her for a few minutes I lean in and give her a quick kiss on the cheek and whisper "Saeko, it's almost time to get up for the day."

The only response I get to that is a still sleeping Saeko murmur "uhmm mhmm." Chuckling to myself I go into washroom and get into the shower to start my day off.

By time I'm out in my underclothes, Saeko is awake and moving about. She had pulled out my uniform. All prepped and ready to go. And then there's her, standing there in my baseball jersey smiling at me, as she always does. I walk up and put up my hands on her hips and just look at her. "How did I ever become this lucky?" I ask her

Her reply was simple. "You were there when no one was and you accepted me for who I was, am and who I will be. You stood by me and now I will stand by you."

That always made my insides twist, in a good way. Even now. She always had that effect on me. Pulled her into myself and gave her a proper hug and a passionate kiss to say good morning.

"Good morning to you too!" she giggled, when we broke apart.

_Kami, her cute little giggles always get to me._ I thought to myself. _She is the whole reason I get up in the mornings! Well Alice too but that's different. _"I'm going to go get wake up Alice and tell her to start getting ready for school. I'll have breakfast ready when you're out of the bathroom. The usual? Peppers and bacon?"

"You know me too well, don't you?" she replied with a teasing wink.

I immediately felt my face grow warm and I hurried myself out of our room. I know if I stuck around I wouldn't ever get to work on time, let alone have time to make breakfast.

I was just t about to knock on Alice's door when I hear an energetic shout from inside "I'm almost already for school Oniisan!"

Surprised that she heard me coming I shout back, "You know the drill! T-minus ten minutes until breakfast!" This gets a laugh from the other side of the door, "YES SIR!"

With a chuckle from myself, I head down to our kitchen. We have a tradition in this house where on the beginning of every rotation, I make everyone breakfast. Saeko and I always have the same. Bacon and peppers. But Alice always wants something different. She thinks that I make up a different one every time, but actually I have 12 different ones that I have on a cycle. There's enough time in between that once it gets around again, she's forgotten. So today hers has spring onion and shrimp.

I'm just putting the final touches on all of our tamagoyaki when I someone sneaks up behind me and puts their hands over my eyes. And whispers in my ear "Guess who?" These hands had a beautiful lavender scent to them. I always thought it was cute that she used the soap that was scented after the colour of her hair.

I of course knew that it was Saeko as there were only two others in this house and Alice can barely touch my ears. With a smile, I joke "Don't hurt me! But please don't let me burn my breakfast!"

This gets another one of the little laughs that I love so much. She lowers her hands to around my waste and rests her chin on my shoulder and takes a deep breath. "Smells wonderful." She said still slightly tired from our late night last night.

Just as I was about to say 'Not as good as you,' Alice comes down the stairs and into the kitchen in a hurry.

"Good morning Oneesan! Do you have any classes to teach today?"

"Yes I do, but not until this evening, after Takashi is home from work. Why do you ask?"

"I was wondering if maybe I… uhhh… can I join your class tonight."

"Does Obasan need any help in the hospital tonight?"

"Nope!" Alice enthusiastically replied. "She said that it has been pretty quiet these last few days, so I have the evenings to do with as I please."

"I don't see any problem with that. Do you Takashi?" she asked me with a look on her face.

Well I kind of did….

**FLASHBACK **

**June 21****st****, 2009**

They had been on the move now for over three months. Nowhere they went could take the group in or were hostile. Takashi's group had just wandered the city and had eventually made their way out. They had to move on foot thanks to that EMP from the nuclear blast. This made covering long distances very difficult. The only vehicles that Takashi and Kohta found that were either inaccessible, or too noisy. Things just couldn't get any worse. Until they did.

Everyone was checking houses in a suburb of town, looking for a place to spend the night. The group thought that they had found a good place to settle in for the night. Maybe even a few days if it was manageable. There was one problem. There were a bunch of them in the yard. The house looked undamaged from all angles, so as a group we decided to clear them out. It would be simple enough. Six of them, three of us with hand weapons, and plenty of room to move around within the yard for the time being, Shizuka and Alice locked themselves into another yard that we had cleared out.

Or so we thought.

Takashi, Rei and Saeko were clearing out the yard, just about finished with Kohta and Saya watching the street to make sure that none of Them shuffled up behind us when we hear Shizuka and Alice scream out. Then Shizuka's scream stops. We had just dropped the last one of Them and that lone scream froze us all into place for a second. We all broke our paralysis at the same time and rushed over to help the two girls. We just get to wall in time to see Shizuka with her head next to the wall, out cold, and Alice hit the crawler in the head with a pipe she held onto. And she hit it again. And again. And again she didn't stop until its head was sprayed everywhere. When she finally stopped, we all looked at her in shock.

"Alice…" Takashi started.

Alice slowly turns around and looks at everyone with a look of darkness that Takashi knew could almost rival Saeko. She coldly says, "I saved Obasan."

She drops the pipe he was holding and collapsed to the ground. Thankfully Saeko caught the little girl. When she looked towards Takashi, there was a look of concern on both of their faces.

**That Evening**

They had brought the two still unconscious girls into the house in that house. They looked over Shizuka and from as far as they could tell, she just hit her head. A bump on her head was the worst that they could tell. She had woken up, but was tired and in an uncomfortable amount of pain. So they gave her some painkillers to ease the discomfort and help her rest. But their number 1 concern right now was Alice. She still hadn't woken up at that point and it was already going on 3 hours.

"We can't let her use violence like that!" Saya exclaimed.

"And why the hell not?" Rei argued

"Because! She is still only a kid! She still needs time to be one before she grows up. And that can happen pretty quickly in this world now," was Saya's rebuttal. Both Saeko and Kohta nodded in agreement. Saeko looked almost if she had seen a ghost back there however. And she still looked pale and uneasy.

"But she needs to be able to defend herself! We won't always be right beside her to protect her," Rei exclaimed, getting angry.

"BAKA! Will you keep it down a bit! Shizuka-Sensei is trying to rest right now! We need her to be ready to go as soon as we can manage. With that scream reverberating across these silent empty buildings, who knows how many might be on their way right now!" Saya quietly yelled at Rei. "As for protecting her, I'll do it! She won't leave my sight and I'll look after her."

"No I can look after Alice. I…" Saeko started

"Thanks, but no thanks. We need you out front. That's where you're most useful. Thank you though," interjected Saya sternly.

Takashi and Saeko shared a knowing look, that if they could help it, she would never use violence again.

**END FLASHBACK**

I thought about what Alice had just asked her. I knew that she wanted to be like Saeko and that scared me. I knew he could trust Saeko, but I wasn't quite sure how Alice would react again in that sort of situation. I contemplated on this for a few minutes in silence and I noticed Alice's smile dropping a little bit every second I was thinking. Finally I said "I guess it couldn't hurt for you to learn to use a Bokken."

Alice was so thrilled that she jumped up and clung onto me while I was sitting on the stool, nearly knocking the both of us off. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I can't wait to tell Kaito!"

"Huh? Who's Kaito?" I inquired with a raised eyebrow.

"Uhhhhhhh no one! Gotta go! Don't want to be late for class! B-BYE!" she yelled as she ran out of the door with her face starting to feel a tad warmer.

"What will we do with that girl?" I chuckled, shaking my head.

"Well I think we're doing a good job all things considered." Saeko answered the rhetorical question and kissed me before I could say anything back. "You better get going or you will be late too" she said as she broke the kiss. "And there will be a surprise at waiting for you at the end of the week." I instantly felt flushed in my face and the last quick kiss certainly didn't help! I can't wait for the end of this week!

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So here we have the first act. Nothing too exciting. Just back story into what our favourite gang has been up to. I look forward to hearing your guys opinions in the review. I'd like to thank Draco38 of the Four Horsemen for the Beta read!

P.S. the next chapter definitely have some action and really get our story rolling!


	2. ACT II

Hey everyone, Hawx here! I just thought it would be a good idea to throw up my second chapter to get things started. From here on, I'll be posting a new chapter every Friday as long as I don't have an absurd amount of homework (or pow days ;) ). so I'm going to work my ass off this week so I can have act three ready for publish Friday.

***I don't own Highschool of the Dead or its characters***

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**Act II**

Just as he had feared, it's been a slow couple of days. Even the undead seem to not be interested in the survivors or the town. No patrols had had too many problems with them throughout this rotation. There were a few small hordes of them that we took care of with ease. It was almost as if they became disinterested in the survivors. Or are there getting to be less and less of Them? He wished he knew how many were left at this point. It feels like the little town took out half of Japan's population since arriving here. It's been a long few years, and he knows that everyone just wants this nightmare to be over and wake back up in the real world. Unfortunately this their life now. He like to think that most of the survivors have adjusted to the way things are now.

There are 5 men that Komuro was in charge of on the hunting operations. A few years back the community had decided it was better to go on an offensive than to let Them come to the walls. Since that time there haven't been any breaks in the barrier. In fact, there hasn't been an undead hand to touch the barrier in 4 months. That's the longest time since the Red Spring that Gujo hasn't had an alarm or emergency procedure in effect. All of the hunting groups are efficient and run like a military unit. But none are as good as Shikyō Squad, Komuro's group. They are the only group to hold a perfect record. Not a single loss of life while under his command. Since ammunition isn't a sustainable resource yet, everyone had to work with what was available. At first, the groups used crude weapons such as pipes or baseball bats.

But not even two years ago, a gentleman and his family joined the community. He happened to be a metalworker by trade before the end. He offered to make weaponry for the patrol groups as thanks for taking him and his family in. For each leader, he produced a double edged Katana based off of the legendary Amakuni Yasutsuna's double edged sword. As well he produced a simple chokutō for each of the remaining men. These swords helped us greatly in our fight against them. Much like the legend, none of our swords dulled or broke. It's almost as if the sword that Soichiro Takagi gave to Saeko all those years ago was made by the same man…

Shikyō Squad was well into our rounds on the second day of our rotation, and we had dealt with a few small groups of them. Never more than two or three at a time however. One of the men had just dispatched the last Zed of the group we encountered and then it was decided to head towards the mid-day break location. There, they'll contact operations and report in that nothing unusual has occurred during the rotation

"Captain Komuro, how much longer do you think that there will be Them around?" inquired Kyle. He's a young Canadian guy who was spending time backpacking around Japan when everything went down. He used his survival skills to hide out in the mountains for months before he found Gujo. He was instantly welcomed into the group, even with lack of fluency in the Japanese language. He proved to be a very fast learner, and an excellent teacher in survival skills. When asked where he learned all of this, he'd tell you that he actually when to school for it.

"I don't know." he answered honestly. "I hope that one day they'll be all gone, but I know that there's a very real possibility that somewhere, there may be some lurking around undiscovered still." Komuro could tell that he didn't like that answer one bit. "But hey, let's focus on the here and now. The things that matter. Has there been any word on your family?"

"No," he said quietly with a drop in his usually cheerful features. Ever since global communication started to be rebuilt, he's been trying to find what has happened to his parents back home. The only info he could uncover was that they were on the missing persons list.

"Well hopefully no news is good news!" Komuro tried to lighten the mood a tad, which is met with a forced smile on his part. "Why don't you tell me about how you learned all those skills that kept you alive? You claim you actually went to school for something like that, but I don't believe you." he chuckled.

"Believe what you want, but yes I did go to school for that." He said. he noticed this brought back a bit of his usual self. Komuro knows this story but he knows how much he likes to tell it. "All my life I had aspirations to become a doctor or a lawyer, you know, someone who made the big bucks. Well anyways, I wasn't very good at school. I tried my hardest to get good grades, but no matter what I tried, I couldn't get what I needed. So after graduation I took a year off. I went to Africa and Europe with some of my classmates. And while doing those extraordinary adventures, I realized I didn't want to be a lawyer or a doctor. I wanted to be free, be outside doing the things I love with people that want to be there. So as soon as I got back home, I looked for colleges and universities that would offer something like that. Sure enough I found one near the borders of two of our provinces. It was only a one year program but it taught me what I needed to know and gave me some work contacts. I did that for some time and though 'Hmmmm I haven't been to japan yet' so I bought a ticket five years ago and that brings me to where I am today."

We managed to arrive at our designated location by time he finished recounting his recent life events. It's a tall grass open field with a still solid WWII bunker sitting on the edge by the forest. This is the break area for all patrol groups during the day. It's wide open, easily defendable, and able to withstand a grenade ambush from bandits. The only downside to that, it blocks all cellular signal from leaving or entering the bunker. So as per my routine, Komuro walked around back and into the woods to call the office to check in. he could do it just outside the bunker, but he doesn't want them to hear his call to Saeko. he called her every midday break to let her know they're all ok and just to talk with her. Kumoro pulled out his standard issue work radio to check in.

"Shikyō Squad to HQ, checking in for midday report. Small numbers of Them. No threats to Gujo, but we will keep dispatching them. No casualties or new survivors to report. Do you copy?"

There was a brief moment of static and then, "We copy Shikyō Squad. We will expect you home in three hours. See you then. HQ out."

Satisfied with the reply, he turned down the radio and put it back onto his hip holster and pulled out the cellphone to give Saeko a call. Seeing that she is always the one he called, komuro just hit talk twice and her number comes up as it starts to ring. Before Komuro can even put the device to his ear, Saeko picks up on the other end.

"Takashi, your two minutes late!" she playfully scolded him with one of her adorable giggles. "I was so worried for those two minutes!"

"I love you too," was Komuro's response to her playful jabs at him.

"So how is your patrol going today?"

komuro recounted to her the events of the day. About how there were so few of them and no sign of any new survivors. The conversation with Kyle was also mentioned to Saeko.

"I hope he finds them some day. He is such a nice young man and doesn't deserve the world that he was thrust into." Saeko commented.

"I agree completely. But I at the same time, the community can't afford to lose him. He's our best survival expert."

"That is true….."

The couple continued to talk about nothing at all. Speculations and what ifs. Nothing that made them think too much, but keep the other talking because they enjoy hearing eachother's voice. Another three minutes had passed when Komuro finally brought up the topic that he didn't want to.

"How's Alice in the kendo class?"

There was a brief pause and then "She's….. Good. She is absorbing the academic side of it as well as the exercises. She really seems to enjoy it. And thankfully there hasn't been any signs of what we were worried for. I think if we ease her into the actual head to head training, the dark side we saw won't be anything for us to worry about, though we will be keeping a close eye on her behavior."

"I'm glad to hear that," he say smiling to myself. "You're so goo-"

**KABOOM!**

There was a force so strong that it knocked Komuro right off his feet. It took his brain a second to process what was going on. Another second to realize that his ears were ringing. As Komuro became aware of what was going on, he realized he had crushed the phone in his hand. Though Komuro's hearing was still returning, he could tell that there was no longer the sweet voice he longed for coming from it.

Just then, reality set in. 'The explosion came from the bunker!' exploded into his head. komuro tried the radio to call for back up but all he got was static. he must have landed on it when he was knocked over. 'I needed to check on my guys now!' was the only thought that occupied his mind this moment. With that, he ran as fast as he possibly could to check on the group. All the experience of fighting Them couldn't prepare him for what he saw next.

The scene in front of him looked like something out of a horror movie. There were a few small body parts in front of the open door of the bunker. Black smoke and flames were spilling out of the upper windows. Komuro dropped his katana and pulled his mask on and ran into the bunker shouting "Is there anyone alive?! Sound off if you can hear me!"

Komuro was just about to get out due to the smoke when he gets a very weak "over here" that he barely hear over the growing flames.

He ran to where he heard the call and he sees Kyle, but only half of him. He grabbed him and carried him out with ease. There was so much adrenalin coursing through his veins from being tossed around by the blast. He manages to get him outside and onto the grass just as fire blocked the entrance. Komuro lays him down gently and ask, "What happened? I was only gone for a few minutes!" For the first time he gets a good look at Kyle's injuries. They were fatal and there was nothing Komuro could do. His left leg past the knee was gone and his right was completely gone.

Komuro gets a look from him that says I know I'm going to die, but nothing you did was wrong. The light was fading quickly from his face and he managed to sputter out, "there was… someone else…. They threw in a box…. Next thing I felt is a burning white pain. Then you came in…." With that his last breath let his body.

The realization of what happened started to sink in. "My group, the best of the best are all gone. And by the deliberate hand of someone else! Who could have done this? We were a quiet group of survivors that didn't make moves on other communities. We were respected!"

He surveyed the field and two things caught his eye. First is that there were some of Them moving in from across the large field. No doubt in his mind that the explosion alerted them. But what really worried him was the second thing he saw. It was his katana. Unsheathed and stuck into the ground with a piece of paper attached to it. That sent a chill down his spine. He closed Kyle's still open eyes and laid him back in the grass. Cautiously, he walked up to his katana and grab the piece of paper off of it. It was a note from whoever did this.

It had two sentences written on it. "_We've been watching you Komuro. Run._"

He grabbed his katana and did exactly what it said to do.

For the first time in 3 years, he ran for his life.

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Who left that note? What does this mean for Gujo? How long have they been watching them? everything will be answered here within the next few chapters. As always, please Review, Favorite and/or Follow!

Hawx


	3. Update

**Hey everyone, Hawx here. I want to update you on why I haven't been updating at all. I was just released from the hospital two days ago from a snowboarding accident in the Canadian Rockies' backcountry around new years. I knocked myself unconscious for three days as well as sever spine and head trauma. So it's actually been really hard for me to get my words down on paper. I have to get caught back up on my courses, but I am in the process in finishing up ACT III when I have some spare moments. I really appreciate everyone sticking with me and I promise you that another chapter will be out soon. **

**In the meantime, keep your eye on that line and the powder underfoot.**

**Hawx**


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